POOJA KOTHARI, ESQ.
Pooja’s wealth of experience in confronting bias and creating dialogue, stems from her professional experience as a Public Defender at The Legal Aid Society, Criminal Defense Practice.
From arraignment to trial, Pooja spent six years advocating on behalf of indigent clients in a criminal justice system that disproportionately targets poor people of color and people from marginalized communities.
During this time, she created dialogue around racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, poverty and its complicated intersections. Pooja was part of the efforts that tailored anti-bias trainings specifically to the needs of all staff and later was instrumental in designing the anti-bias LGBTQ trainings. She has spoken at law schools and universities about bias in the criminal justice system and how implicit bias detrimentally affects the attorney-client relationship.
TURNING TO BOUNDLESS AWARENESS
Boundless Awareness grew organically from a desire to highlight bias in the legal system, but developed into ways to address bias in everyday life, but especially in workplace culture.
As a queer, first generation Indian-American woman, Pooja's life experience with intersections of bias, provides the compassionate framework she uses in her workshops.
She earned her Juris Doctor degree from Brooklyn Law School, her Master of Arts degree in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University, School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Spanish from Union College.
Pooja is fluent in Spanish and Hindi.
